


Jewel Of Skyrim

by Sylvia_Fey



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Ash guardian, Beyond Skyrim - Bruma, Black Books - Freeform, Bounty Hunters, Bruma, Character Death, Collaboration, Comedy, Cyrodiil, Daedra, Daedric Princes, Daedric Quests, Dark Past, Dragon star mod, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, Flirting, Freeform, Funny, Hammerfell, Hermaeus Mora - Freeform, Humor, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jewel Of Skyrim, Mind of Madness Mod, Modern Girl in Skyrim, Modern Girl in Tamriel, Other, Past Abuse, Past Character Death, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Torture, Pc gaming, Radiant Prostitution Mod, Raven Rock, Retching Netch, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Solstheim, Stealing Hearts, Tel Mithryn, Temporary Character Death, Thief, amulet of kings, apocrypha, ash spawn, non-dragonborn, waitressing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-11-06 19:57:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17946128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylvia_Fey/pseuds/Sylvia_Fey
Summary: Cassidy Blane is a thief from our world who is thrown into Skyrim after stealing the Amulet of Kings, from a museum. She is such a good thief that in the criminal community and law enforcement circles, she's known as "The Ghost Cat" because of her uncanny ability to get out of ANY situation, no matter how difficult. She doesn't know anything about Skyrim or Tamriel but that doesn't stop her from trying to steal anything that isn't nailed down (I know what you're thinking and NO she will not be in the Thieves Guild). I made the final decision that she is NOT going to be a Dragonborn, I have too much sort of planned for her already. She is also the only of my OCs that, for the most part, travels alone and doesn't stick to JUST Skyrim. She starts out in Solsthiem and goes to Bruma and Hammerfell, unlike my other OCs. She's fun, she's quirky, she's flirty, and she has an adorable Bounty Hunter that's been on her tail since Hammerfell (Rofdir, courtasy of King_Treagodia). I'm sure everyone knows where that leads.Let's join this thief on a Tamerilic adventure to find out who she is and how to get back home. Assuming she wants to go back."It's such easy pickings here"





	1. Welcome To The Jewel Of Skyrim

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you that are reading my other Fanfic Forever in the Now, I AM NOT DONE WITH IT AND WILL NOT STOP WRITING IT BECAUSE OF THIS ONE. I just won't update Jewel Of Skryim as often as FITN.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it. 
> 
> I actually started Cassidy off with alternate Start left for dead and it started her in Soltheim.... yeah. -_- Not thrilled about that... at level 1.

Unlike what I did with Forever In The Now, I'm going to give you a few images of Cassidy Blane and Rofdir, for the part in the story when he comes in. For those that are like "who's Rofdir?" Well, lemme tell ya. He's Traysek's younger brother (yes _THAT_ Traysek from chapters 107, 108, and 112 - 115 in FITN) and a Bounty Hunter with an almost personal vendetta against Cassidy since she eventually steals one of their mother's pieces of jewlery. Long and Short, he's serious, she's not. XD we all know how those situations turn out. I think these images will give you a bit of a background on her personality without reading any of the story. Enjoy! 

  
(Regular daily outfit, courtasy of the Devine Elegance Store by Apachii.)

  
(Thief outfit; also courtasy of the Devine elegance Store my Apachii)

  
(Solstheim near Tel Mithryn)

  
(Raven Rock)

  
(Warrior statue near Bruma; Courtasy of Beyond Skyrim; Bruma)

  
(Can you find the Ghost Cat?)

As always, comments are more than welcome and will be read and answered within a day of comments being posted. As I said in the story summary, I will probably not be updating this story as much as I do Forever In The Now. I AM NOT FINISHED WRITING FITN!! I'm not even really taking a break from it. I just have so much in my brain and it all has to go somewhere. So, enjoy this one while I'm writing the next chapter of FITN. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, before I even get to that point, I'd like to thank my friend King_Traegodia for letting me snatch Rofdir for this story. I promise to return him in fairly decent condition... maybe. Be sure to check out his fanfiction Tales Of The Red Dragon (TOTRD https://archiveofourown.org/works/16405475/chapters/38403950 ) and his other fanfic on Fanfiction.net called Skyblade ( https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12555788/1/Skyblade-The-Wandering-Dragonborn ). ALSO, keep an eye out for a collaboration story between myself and King_Traegodia. It's gunna be funny and sad and full of humorous drama. You're not gunna wanna miss out.


	2. Stealing Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It started as a normal snatch and grab job. Just get in, grab the jewel and get out. Little did Cassidy know that what was supposed to be a simple job could turn into such a big mess. Come on this wild adventure where we follow The Ghost Cat through a realm where she has to fight trolls, wolves, vampires, werewolves, dragons, Religious cults, and if that wasn't enough she has to do it all while trying to evade a very determined Bounty Hunter. Greeeeeeaaaaatttttt.

It was a late night, or early morning, depending on who you asked and who answered. The moon was full and looked bigger and more orange than it normally did, casting a bright, neon glow over the windows of the museum. She moved up the side of the building, being as quick and quiet as she could, skittering across the ledges before pausing as a guard walked under the ledge she was standing on. She held her breath, the black mask over her upper face keeping the nervous sweat from dripping into her eyes. She let her breath out slowly, softly, almost like a quiet sigh as the security guard moved out from under the ledge and around the edge of the building. She took another deep breath, leaning forward slightly to swing the rope up and over the ledge, hooking on the pipe that she knew was jutting out just over the edge. She smirked when she gave the rope a tug to make sure it held firm before moving up the side of the building like the cat burglar she was. She rolled off the ledge onto the roof, her heels scuffing happily covered by the whirring of the air conditioners and fans that were set on the roof to help ventilate the paintings, statues, and precious gems and jewelry. She made quick work of the lock with her lock pick tools before slipping into the stairwell of the museum. From casing out the place, she knew there weren't any cameras in the stairwell, for the same reason they didn't have cameras in the bathrooms. Safety and no one hardly ever went in there except for the employees, who would go to the roof to smoke. The cigarette butts spread out over the rooftop, scattered by the wind and shuffled feet. She rounded the corners, her steps virtually silent as she moved down to the floor above the floor her prize was on. She moved through the rooms, keeping to the shadows and ducking behind large statues and pots as she moved, pausing only when a security guard wandered by, shining their lights on everything. She held her breath, closing her eyes as she stood stark still, waiting patiently for the guard to pass her by before continuing on, weaving through the pretty jars and fancy statues of men and women in one another's embrace. Her heart hurt at seeing these images of love and passion, something she only knew the concept of, but she quickly shook it away, moving into the area she knew would be clear for at least a half an hour. She had timed each walk through the guards did. Sitting outside in the wind and rain, watching through binoculars as the guards moved through each floor. She took a deep breath, dropping her pack on the floor and moving quickly to lift the grate in the floor that led into the duct that led to another grate not far from where she needed to drop down. She prepared the retracting zip lines that attached to the harness she quickly slipped into before sliding into the vent, pulling the zip line and its attachers along behind her. She leaned over the grate, peering through the slivers of space in the grate as she watched the guard walk below her. She smirked, narrowing her eyes in glee as she carefully and as quietly as she could, she removed the grate, putting it across from her before leaning down and out of the vent opening, slowly and carefully screwing the hooks into the ceiling on either side of the air duct. She hooked the zip line onto the hooks, giving them a testing tug before taking a deep breath and somersaulting out of the air duct. She held herself there for a moment, listening for any sound of footsteps before releasing her grip. She zipped down, stopping just short of the floor before standing straight. Now, in a movie, you would expect her to unhook herself and walk around like those thieves in movies, but no. She found that it was much easier and faster if she didn't waste the time unhooking herself. She gave a sigh, smiling as her sapphire eyes set on the shining red gem set in a gold setting with more jewels inlaid and a rope style chain. 

"There you are. Where have you been all my life?" she cooed at the necklace behind glass. She pulled the thin black, latex gloves on, carefully moving her hands over the glass without touching it as her eyes checked the corners and interiors of the glass display. She narrowed her eyes at the pressure plates along the corners of the glass and around the bottom of the display. She couldn't help but smirk and chuckle, "give me a challenge, why don't you." She took a deep breath, holding it as she leaned down, her eyes focusing in on the wires, near invisible to someone who didn't know what to look for. She smiled at the pathetic excuse for a wire covering and flipped out her butterfly knife, not bothering to do any of the fancy tricks before putting the knife against the wires. She went over how long it would take for an alarm to sound, calculating the speed she would have to move to get the gem, get out and get away. She gave a short nod, pressing the knife into the wires and severing them. She knew she had tripped the silent alarm and worked quickly to pull the glass off the gem and grabbing it before pushing the button on the zip line, sending her into the air and up to the air duct. She smirked as the guards rushed into the room. Four of them moved to the open case, cursing and growling at the loss of such a pretty stone. She smirked as she slid the grate back into place, not bothering to pull the hooks out of the ceiling before sliding backward toward the other opening. She peeked out first, listening carefully before climbing up and out, making sure to secure the grate before weaving her way back toward the emergency exit. She slipped into the exit, rushing down the steps, around and around, the stairs. She would have giggled, as if it were some game to her, except she reminded herself that she was on a job.  _Just do the job and then you can celebrate with some ice cream. Ooo! Or maybe a dozen cookies. Chocolate chip. Yeah. Mmmm, that would be nice._ She skipped to the door, ducking down as the guards ran past the door, shouting at one another about searching this area or that. She smirked, stepping behind the door as it flew open, luckily for her, the permanent stopper stopped the door before it could bash into her nose. She sniffed as three guards ran up the stairs, slipping through the door and out into the lobby. She plucked the key from behind the desk and whistled a little tune as she headed for the door. She unlocked the door, pausing for a second to turn and blow the camera in the corner a kiss before skipping out the door and down the sidewalk, disappearing into the dark like the cat burglar she was. 

* * *

 _"Meet me at the highest point in the city and I will deliver the rest of your pay then,"_ the tall, blonde man with the accent had told her. 

She frowned at the gem necklace in her hand, turning it over and over in her palm as she examined the gem, gold, and jewels.  _Not a bad piece. I might keep it and sell it for double on the black market. Hell, triple. It's worth at least that much in the main gem alone._ She lifted the gem to the moon, moonlight catching in the red to cast a faint red hue glow over her face. She smiled, turning the gem in the moonlight before it started to fog over. She furrowed her brow, frowning at the clouding of the gem. "What the Hell?" she muttered before it started to glow, growing hot to the touch so much that she released it, but instead of falling to the ground, it remained mid-air and started to spin. Faster and faster it span, bringing with it a strong wind that almost blew her completely off her feet. She covered her eyes and face, squinting against the dirt and dust getting into her eyes before being lifted off her feet and thrown into the air, flying in a tornado-like fashion, much like how Dorothy got to the land of Oz in the older movie. She cried out, trying and failing to grab onto anything before being sucked through the darkness with a loud scream. 

* * *

She groaned, furrowing her brow as she sat up, her hand going to her throbbing head, "what the Hell happened?" she grunted, blinking against the blinding whiteness surrounding her. She shivered, the snow melting under her, starting to soak into her clothing and make her even colder.  _Snow? Where the Hell'd snow come from? It's summer,_ she thought, stiffly getting to her feet and wrapping her arms around herself. She glanced around, rubbing her hands over her arms to try and keep warm before blowing hot air into her cupped hands.  _I have to get somewhere warm and find out how to get back home,_ she thought pausing for a second before looking around the area suddenly frantic. "Where is it!" she hissed, digging in the surrounding snow for the red jeweled necklace that she had just acquired. "Damn!" She huffed her breath curling with white fog around her face before dispersing into the chilly air. She sniffled, wrapping her arms around herself once again before heading for the only opening she could see in the snow-filled canyon before her. She gasped and sniffled in the cold air, wishing that she had been smart enough to pack for cold weather, despite the weather where she was from being warm at night.

She shivered, her eyes widening at the wide expanse of snow-covered wilderness laid out before her.  _Where the Hell am I?_ She breathed hot air into her hands, rubbing them together to try and keep them warm as she looked around for any sign of shelter.

She sighed at the sight of an altar of some sort with candles encircling some strange mass in the center. She knew enough to know that it was some sort of sacrificial site, but was too cold to care before pressing forward. 

She paused on the few steps, her eyes on the corpse lying in the center of the altar. The woman looked like she had been torn apart by something large, sharp and angry. She mentally said a prayer that she wouldn't come across whatever or whoever did that, before crouching down near one of the candles, cupping the flame with her hands to help warm them. She watched the flame flicker and dance between her palms, casting eerie shadows across her face, despite the snow being so bright. She took a deep breath, the cold air burning her lungs as she went over everything she had done until she woke up in this frozen wasteland.  _Stole the amulet. Went to meet the client. Looked at the amulet..._ she frowned, remembering the amulet taking on a bright red glow before spinning mid-air and sucking her into some sort of vortex. She sighed, getting to her feet as she glanced at the cave set in the rock face to the left of the ritual. She sniffled, wiping her cold nose with the back of her hand before moving to the cave opening. She coughed as she entered, rubbing her hands over her arms and hoping that it will be warmer in the cave than out in the open. 

* * *

_Well, I was partially right,_ she thought, her breath curling around in white fog around her face before she slowly started up the snowy, icy slope. She wrinkled her nose at the frozen, severed goat heads sitting on pikes and the bones hanging from thin ropes extended from the ice and rock ceiling. She inhaled, the cold barely covering the stench coming from farther in the cave. She paused next to a sconce, letting her body absorb as much heat as possible as she shivered slightly from the cold. She rubbed her hands together, glancing down the long hallway that seemed to glow with a blueish light from the glow of the fire in the sconce. She sighed, furrowing her brow as she glanced from farther in the cave to the entrance where the wind howled and the snow blew. She shivered again, coughing into her hands before deciding to press farther into the cave, hoping she might find a dead caver or some dead animal she could cut the pelt off of to use for warmth. 

She paused in the entrance way, feeling nervous about the very wide open area of the inner cell of the cave. She remained silent and still, listening carefully for any movement. or any noises at all. She heard a low wheezing, like a smoker who had just finished coughing and was trying to regain their breath. She heard squished shuffling before some sort of haggard creature that was bent almost in half, its fingers clawed and feathers protruded from its body, flowing down the creature to create some sort of skirt that brushed the ground behind it. She crouched down, her eyes focused on the creature as it moved back behind the pillar of rock and ice. She wrinkled her nose at the stench, trying to swallow past the smell of ammonia, bird, and blood. 

She slowly moved into the opening of the cave, her eyes moving to the body laying on the table in the almost center of the room. She fought to keep from sniffling as cold snot started to drip down her upper lip.  _Those robes look like they would be warm,_ she thought, glancing up at where the ugly creature had gone before slowly rising to her feet enough to notice a small bag sitting on the edge of the table. The urge to check the pouch was almost too much and she flipped the flap open, stuffing her hand into the satchel before the sound of a bird's squawking shriek brought her attention around and up to another of those ugly creatures standing on the edge of the rocks. She turned in time to see the first creature shuffling down the rocks toward her as something flickered and glowed in its talons. It took her a second to realize as it came at her, that the creature had thrown a fireball. If it wasn't for her reflexes, her head would have been burnt to a crisp. She scurried to her feet, slipping and sliding along the snow and ice as she tried to run away from the ugly witches. Another loud explosion shook the cave, causing snow to fall down on her and sending her into a moment of her childhood.

_"Cassidy! Nicht bewegen! (Cassidy! Don't Move!)" her father snarled as another grenade went off near her._

_"Vater! Ich habe Angst! Ich will das nicht mehr! Bitte, können wir aufhören? (Father! I'm afraid! I do not want that anymore! Please, can we stop?)" child Cassidy screamed over the explosions._

_Her father sneered at her, throwing another grenade into the hole near her feet, "du wirst stark sein oder du wirst sterben! (You will be strong or you will die!)"_

_She screamed as the grenade went off, her ears ringing as pain shot up her body, numbing her to the loss of her leg. She lay on the hole, staring up at her father as he stood on the edge of the hole, his eyes narrowed at her as he frowned._

_"Erbärmlich (Pathetic)," he hissed, spitting into the hole as she lost consciousness._

* * *

She stumbled out of the cave, breathing heavily before falling to her knees, her eyes unfocused as sweat slid down her forehead to drip from the tip of her nose, landing in the snow. She shook, but this time from the memory, not the cold. 

"Are you alright?" someone called out, barely reaching into her mind to pull her back out as she blinked and looked to her right before getting to her feet.

"I..." she cleared her throat, the cold starting to get to her again, "could you help me? I'm lost. I don't know where I am."

The man gave her a raised eyebrow as he shifted the bag on his shoulders, "my camp's not far from here. You can come along and we'll get you warmed up some."

Cassidy nodded, wrapping her arms around herself as she moved to follow the man.

He paused, pulling his bag from his back and rifling through it before pulling out a long furry blanket like thing and holding it out to her. "Here. You should put this on before you freeze to death," he said, holding it up and draping it over her shoulders.

Cassidy blinked, giving him a small smile of gratitude as she pulled the cloak tight around herself, already feeling a hundred times warmer than she was a few seconds ago.

"Come on," he said, motioning her to follow before leading her down the snowy mountain.

* * *

Cassidy sat cross-legged on the ground as the hunter, Tonnvir, handed her a bowl of hot stew he made from rabbit and ash yams...whatever those were. "Thank you," she said, nibbling on her spoonful as she sat close to the fire to warm herself up. 

"So what were you doing out in the middle of nowhere?" he asked, taking a seat across the fire from her.

"I..." she furrowed her brow, frowning as she tried to remember exactly what happened, "I just kind of...dropped in." She gave him a grin.

He raised his eyebrows at her before shaking his head, "you're lucky I found you before the rieklings or werewolves."

Cassidy swallowed her bite, "werewolves?" she asked, suddenly feeling very vulnerable in the semi-open space of the small, forested area. 

He chuckled, "don't worry. The werewolves usually stay farther north. We're not in any danger of attacks tonight from them," he said, finishing off his bowl of stew before rising to get more, "would you like more? There's plenty."

Cassidy gave him a grateful smile before shaking her head, "no thank you. This is more than enough."

He gave her a nod before dishing himself out more and retaking his seat across from her. "Where you will probably want to go to is Raven Rock. It's a port town with ships that sail back and forth from the mainland to here. You might be able to find more information in Skyrim and the rest of Tamriel if you take a ship there." He looked up at her through the flames, "I don't travel to Raven Rock often and didn't plan on making a trip there, to begin with but..." he paused, rubbing the back of his head, "I suppose I can't just let you wander around on your own, especially not knowing where you are. I'll take you to Raven Rock tomorrow."

Cassidy gave him a bright smile, "thank you! That's so nice of you!" she said, getting a smirk from the man.

"A pretty girl like you could get into a lot of trouble in Solsthiem, especially if she doesn't know her way around," he said as something flickered behind his eyes. 

She knew what that flicker was from her early days on her own and chose to ignore it, mentally preparing for a probable fight later on at night when he thought she would be asleep. 

* * *

She waited in her bedroll, shifting every once in a while to deter him from attempting to take advantage of her. After a while, she listened to his breathing before sitting up in the bed and looking at him in the dark. Her eyes were sharp in the dark and could make out the man curled up under his blankets that were mostly made up of animal pelts. She smirked, sliding out from under the furs and getting to her feet. It was cold in the tent and she half thought about curling back up under the blankets, but she wasn't about to wait for morning or to take the chance that the man might press his luck. She rolled her eyes at the memory of the last man that did and what had happened.  _I warned him,_ she thought, sneaking close to Tonnvir's bedroll. She watched his shoulders rise and fall slowly a few times before carefully moving his armor, coat, and clothing. She smirked at the small pouch laying amongst it and glanced at him before carefully lifting it up and slipping it into her pocket. She got to her feet, snagging her boots and vest as she moved to the tent flap, pausing only for a second before grabbing the cloak near the opening and stepping out into the fridged air. 


	3. Run For Your Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassidy learns just how tough, wild and scary Solsthiem is and ends up in Tel Mithryn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to actually WATCH my playthrough as Cassidy Blane, just follow this link to my Youtube channel. ^_^ Enjoy.
> 
> Jewel Of Skyrim  
> https://youtu.be/fdKvuGjJVko

She pulled the cloak tight against the chilly wind, squinting through the snow coming down around her. She glanced toward what looked like an active volcano in the distance. Smoke and ash spewed up from the top of the mountain, covering the moon with a cloud of grey soot that stretched out toward where she was.  _I hope that's already done with,_ she thought as she moved through a grove of trees toward some firelight. She let out a relieved breath at the sound of metal on metal, like someone was working on a metal bench. She crouched down near some rocks, watching the men and women moving around the area that seemed to be roped off slightly between four pillars. 

She watched them work, not sure if they were the right kind of people to directly approach before taking a deep breath and getting to her feet. She stumbled forward, holding her side as if she were injured. People are more likely to help someone who's injured and comes out of nowhere than someone who just walks out of the woods completely fine. "Help. I need...Help," she gasped, bringing one man's attention up to her. He scowled at her before moving around the bench, the hammer he had been using held in his hand aggressively. She braced, taking note of the aggression that was written all over his face before moving back as he brought the hammer around, aiming for her head. She frowned, narrowing her eyes as he moved forward, bringing the hammer down toward her. She put her arms up in a cross position, her right wrist over her left as she turned her right hand around to grab his arm, gripping the muscle with her fingernails and twisting around as she ducked under his arm, pulling his arm with her to hold it tight against his back. She pressed up, forcing him to drop the knife before giving the back of his knees a hard kick, sending him to the ground. A loud battle cry brought her attention to a woman as she rushed at Cassidy with a large ax, forcing her to shuffle back as the woman brought the ax down, embedding in the man's back. She swallowed, furrowing her brow as she glanced toward the area where three more holding weapons were starting to come at her. She weighed the odds, knowing that she could easily take them out, expecially since they obviously didn't care about one another, and were clumsy, at best with the weapons they had. But she wasn't a killer anymore, and this was a new, strange world. So, she did the only thing she could think of doing. She ran.

She raced across the ash and snow covered ground, thankful for her sure-footedness as she lept over rocks, boulders and strange plants. She gave a yip as a fireball flew past her head, hitting the rocks in front of her and steering her to the left.  _Damnit!_ She ran, ignoring the crackling, shouting and strange chittering as a strange bug broke from a shell, taking wing to chase after her before it squeaked at being hit from the people chasing her. She glanced back in time to watch the creature start to attack them before she tripped over a log and rolled head over heels down a hill to land hard against a rock. She scrambled to her feet and up and over the rock before sliding down on the other side, breathing heavily as she listened to the people and the strange creature attack one another. She gasped for air, her mind and body already in fight or flight mode as she got to her feet and took off running over again across the open land, leaping over fallen logs, rocks and tenticle like plants.

She ran past a group... herd?... of strange floating helmets with tenticles comes down from them. She shivered at the thought of land jellyfish and continued on, making sure to steer clear of the strange creatures incase one of them had a taste for human flesh. She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a broken down house, and skidding around the side, grabbing onto the wood of the door before stumbling inside and crouching down against the wall, listening to the surrounding wild land and the chittering and chattering of the beasts and giant bugs. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and let her head fall back against the wall with her eyes closed. She stayed like that for a moment, feeling all her energy drained and wanting nothing more than to sleep. 

Unfortunately, the sound of sand sliding across sand opened her eyes and brought her attention up to two creatures crawling out of the sand. Her eyes widened as they stood, stretching and preparing for a fight before she shot to her feet and bolted from the house with shouts following her.  _I can't catch a break!_ She yelped as a fireball flew over her head, singing her hair a little on top before exploding near a tree trunk several feet ahead of her. She cried out as another fireball flew overhead, exploding dangerously close to her against a rock she ran past, heading for the docks she caught a glimpse of admist the chaos of running for her life. She ducked another fireball as she ran until she got to some rocks jutting out into the water and dived into the dark murk without thinking. She swam under water, diving down under the docks to hide from the creepy, zombie sand people. She broke the surface on the other side of the docks, gasping for air as she clambered out of the water and hurried away from the docks, pausing only long enough to look back. When she saw there wasn't anyone following her anymore, she stopped, leaning heavily on her knees to try and catch her breath. She closed her eyes, her lungs burning from doing so much running, the stitch in her side pinching her liver as if to remind her that she was in a world she knew nothing about. She slowly stood straight, glancing up the hill where, what looked like little fire balls were moving...toward her.

She furrowed her brow, watching the fireballs for a few seconds before it spat a fireball at her. Her eyes widened as she ducked, scurrying into the water of the small pool to avoid any more fire. She moved out of the water, running toward a man standing on the other side. "Help! There's creepy fireballs chasing me!" she called out, only for it to fall of deaf ears. 

"They said it. They said it but they were wrong," he muttered, doing some strange motion with his hands, "the book in my dreams showed me. To touch the sky like a dragon..." He crouched down, waving his arms around before bringing them up and standing straight. He then thrust the glowing light down into the ground, creating a large orb of red light that flashed out around him, moving through Cassidy as she gasped, sent back into the past once again. 

* * *

_Alarms went off, sending her into a panic as water rushed into the room. Red lights flashed, bathing the flooding room in a blood colored glow as she tried to climb the walls to reach the open walkway above her. The man stood on the walkway above, watching as she struggled to find a way out, like a trapped rat in a barrel. She reached out desperately for the man. "Hilf mir. Hilf mir, vater oder ich werde ertrinken (Help me. Help me, father or I will drown)," she called out, her mouth filling with water as it broke through a panel in the wall. She coughed, starting to be forced to tread water._ _He watched her for a moment, puffing on a cigarette before putting his foot against the grate that was her only opening and escape. Her eyes widened as he pushed it close, making her scream before she was consumed by the red light. "Vater! Vater bitte! Vater! Hilf mir! Vater! (Father! Father, please! Father! Help me! Father!)" She was starting to get tired and the gap where the air was was getting smaller and smaller._

_"Du wirst stark sein oder du wirst sterben! (You will be strong or you will die!)" her father's voice echoed in the water._

_She sank into the water, feeling weak and pathetic. She closed her eyes, wishing the water would take her before something bright in the water opened her eyes, bringing her attention to a release valve near the flashing red light. She swam to it, suddenly feeling herself start to think again. She ground her teeth, turning the valve as hard as she could until it gave and the water started to drain from the room, leaving her coughing and gasping for air on the bottom of the room._

_"Du hast es gut gemacht, Cassidy. (You did well, Cassidy)" her father's voice echoed in the chamber._

__

_She lifted her head, as small smirk of pride starting to spread up one corner of her mouth as a panel squealed and opened, bringing her eyes up as they widened at the monsterous black hound with red eyes and sharp teeth. Blood dripped from it's teeth, mixed with it's saliva as it crouched, glaring at her. Her blood went cold as it growled at her._

_"Kontrolliere den Hund oder stirb. (Control the dog, or die.)" her father's voice echoed through the chamber before the hound rushed at her, biting into her arm as she brought it up to protect her face. It shook it's head from side to side, ripping her flesh from her bones as she screamed in pain._

* * *

The man shot into the air, laughing excitedly before giving a cry as he fell back down to earth, his body making a sickening wet crunching noise as he hit the ground, crushing one of the fireballs crawling along the ground. She gasped, turning and running from the fireballs and the dead man now engulfed in the flames from the crushed fireball. She stumbled across the river, going as fast as her tired legs and burning lungs could. She ran toward an opening in a group of rocks where giant mushrooms were growing. The sound of a howl in the distance made her stop and remain still and silent, the silence around her almost deafening. Her heart beat loudly in her ears and her breaths were shakey and quick. She swallowed, remembering what the Tonnvir had said.

_"You're lucky I found you before the rieklings or werewolves."_

She swallowed again, loudly.  _Werewolves._  She stood completely still, straining her ears for any noise and jolting at the sound of two people talking. She blinked out of her fear and moved around the rocks, blinking in surprise of two wearing robes standing in the center of an open space surrounded by giant mushrooms. 

She cautiously moved forward, glancing back toward where she had heard the wolf howls before taking a deep breath and moving forward. Her eyes moved up the gargantuan Mushroom set almost in the center of the...village. She smiled at the fact that she was now walking into a village where the building were made by mushrooms... or is that the mushrooms were buildings? She looked around, suddenly in awe of the small village.  _It's like the mushroom village from the smurfs except human sized,_ she thought, turning her attention to the two people she had heard earlier. 

"Another boarder... no, aetheric order. I think that's right," the man muttered, flipping through a book in his hands as she approached.

"Why are you out here? Aren't you supposed to be in the tower assisting Master Neloth?" the woman asked, frowning at the man as light glowed in his hand before he cast it into the air, only for it to disperse midair. 

"If you must know," he growled, turning to look at her with a frown of his own, "I'm trying to get this Ash Guardian spell to work. Now let me concentrate." He turned back to the book, flipping through the pages before running his fingers over the page, "besides, shouldn't you be worrying about the damage to the tower?"

The woman huffed, glaring at him as she folded her arms over her chest, "Master Neloth has tasked Elynea with repairing the tower," she said, scowling at him, "why are you doing this in the lab, where it would be safer for all of us?"

The man furrowed his brows at the page, seeming to concentrate more on the book, "the uh... the lab is too small. Besides, I need ashy soil. Master Neloth knows what I'm doing."

Cassidy rolled her eyes, knowing that a need to add that meant that his master probably didn't know and wouldn't have approved. Or, that's what she thought and the man's next words only confirmed her suspicions about the man's activities. 

"No need to bother him about it though. He's quite busy at the moment," he said, turning away from her.

"It's on your head if something goes wrong," the woman said, sounding as annoyed as she looked. The woman glanced toward Cassidy as she slowly approached, unsure of the strange people she was walking toward.

 _Anything is better than what I just went through,_ she thought, giving the woman an unsure smile as she moved forward, "hi. Um... I'm a little lost."

"We don't get many visitors. You're in Tel Mithryn. It's the home of Master Neloth," the woman said, lifting her chin slightly in pride, "you may have heard of him. He's a famous Telvanni wizard."

Cassidy gave her a confused smile, "I'm sorry, I don't. What's a Telvanni wizard?"

The woman looked shocked for a second before she frowned at Cassidy and the man looked at her with wide, red eyes. "You've never heard of the great houses of Morrowind?"

 _I don't even know where the Hell I am,_ she thought, giving him an apologetic smile.

"House Telvanni is the house of the master wizard, one of the ruling houses in Morrowind," the man continued, looking down his nose at Cassidy, "Master Neloth is one of the oldest and most respected members of house Telvanni."

Cassidy gave him a slight raised eyebrow before glancing at the mushroom village, "and he lives in a mushroom?" 

"In Morrowind, the Talvanni grow buildings from special fungus spores," the woman chimed in, giving Cassidy a sneer of almost disgust at her lack of knowledge, "Master Neloth grew one here to be his home. Don't ask me how."

_I didn't plan on it,_ she thought, looking up at the giant mushroom. "Could I see inside?" she asked, curious about what someone would keep inside a mushroom.  _Maybe jewelry, or gems, or gold!_   _Maybe he's a gnome!_ She stifled the laugh she wanted to let out at the image of a dwarf wandering around inside a mushroom house. 

"I would not recommend it. Master neloth is very busy with his experiments and research," the woman said, frowning at Cassidy.

"So I can see inside, it's just not recommended?" She asked, making sure to be precise with her words.

"Master Neloth would be very peturbed with any and all interruptions to his work, so no, it is not recommended," the woman growled.

 _I'm going in that giant mushroom to see the gnome,_ Cassidy instantly decided as the woman flipped her hair and turned to leave her and the man while he tried doing whatever it was that he was doing. She watched him for a few seconds as he cast another light into the air, only for it to disperse as it had so many times before. She tilted her head as he started going through the book again, frowning at the pages and not paying attention to anything around him. She smirked, her eyes darting to the woman as she moved up the fungus bridge into what Cassidy figured to be her home. She then glanced toward the giant mushroom and smiled to herself as she casually walked away from the frustrated strange man and his magic disappearing light balls, moving up the surprisingly even fungus walkway to the door set in the stem of the mushroom.  _It's like those tiny fairy gardens except people sized,_ she thought happily as she pulled open the door and stepped in. 

She blinked, confused about the blue light floating up from the ground in front of her before looking up.  _How am I supposed to get up there?_ she thought, furrowing her brow when she remembered that her ropes and wall climbing gear was in the trunk of her car. She sighed, feeling a little disappointed that she didn't get to see the gnome in the mushroom as she stepped forward onto the small, slightly raised platform. She blinked in surprise when her body started to float off the ground before she was lifted up the stem to be gently placed on the wooden landing.

Her lips curved up in a grin as she turned around and stepped forward, gently floating down from the landing to land gently on the platform. She giggled like a child as she stepped back onto the platform, floating back up to land, once again on the landing before stepping off and floating back down. She did that several more times, still giggling every time she landed before a growl of annoyance stopped her from stepping off the landing again.

"It is not a toy! Stop playing there," the man growled as he stalked from one table to the next, pausing only long enough to glare at her before leaning over the table. 

Cassidy frowned at the man before glancing around at the interior of the mushroom, slightly surprised that the inside still looked like a mushroom, as opposed to the image in her head of a normal indoor set of rooms. Her eyes set on a book on the inside of one of the rooms, behind a caged door, making her smirk as the strangely colored man scowled at her.

"I assume there's a reason you're bothering me," the man growled, narrowing his dark red eyes at her.

Cassidy gave a shrug, smiling at him, "not really. I just wanted to see what the inside of a mushroom looks like," she said, casually shuffling around the room, scanning it for anything valuable, as she usually did. 

"This isn't a museum. I conduct important research here and you're keeping me from it. If you don't have any business here, I suggest you leave," the strange colored man said, folding his arms over his chest as Cassidy glanced at him. 

She gave him a smile before skipping to the magical elevator type thing and leaping down. Her feet gently touched the landing and she turned, looking up at the opening,  _he can't stay awake forever,_ she told herself, smirking as she opened the door and stepped out into the ashy world. She made her way down the walkway, giving the man standing at the bottom of the mushroom a surprised blink before furrowing her brow at the strange creature behind him.

"You've got to help me. I've conjured an Ash Guardian and now it's running amok," the man said, looking fearfully behind him at the strange creature as lightning flashed from it's... hands? 

Cassidy's eyes widened as she instinctively ducked, covering her head while looking at the strange creature, "what the Hell do you expect  _ME_ to do about it? You're the one that conjured it. You destroy it!"

The man shook his head, "I need to keep Master Neloth destracted so he doesn't find out what I did," he said, starting to inch his way toward the mushroom she had just exited, "there's no telling what he would do to me."

Cassidy gave him a scowl, her eyes starting to become hazy around the edges, "so you're going to leave  _YOUR_ mess for  _ME_ to clean up?!?" she snarled, giving him a shove back toward the creature, "I don't think so. Get over there and fix your own mess! Jetzt! (Now!)"

The man stared up at her with wide, fearful eyes, "but... but it'll kill me," he said, his voice becoming more panicked.

Cassidy snorted, "and what makes you think that it wouldn't kill me, hmm?" she growled, leaning forward to look him dead in the eyes, "Kämpfe oder stirb, Wurm. (Fight or die, worm.)" 

"I...I can't fight that thing! I'm just an apprentice to Master Neloth," the man said, making her frown deepen into a scowl.

"But you can conjure it and expect others to fight your battles," she growled, giving a snort before moving toward the railing area of the walkway leading down from the mushroom. She turned taking a seat on the edge as she ignored the flashes of lightning flying around her. She sat cross legged on the railing, putting her chin in her hands as she watched the man get to his feet.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he asked, swallowing the obvious fear. 

Cassidy gave him a smile, tilting her head slightly as she narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm going to watch you fight and likely die," she said, getting wide eyes from the man.

"You can't be serious!" the man exclaimed, glancing at the Ash Guardian, "but... I'll die and I have so much more work I need to do. What if I pay you?"

Cassidy thought about that for a moment, giving the man a blank stare before smiling again, "no," she sang, blinking in surprise when the man got zapped by lightning and gave a gasp. She giggled as he fell to his knees, "You'd better fight or it's going to kill you."

"I can't! I can't!" he cried, tears starting to bead in the corners of his eyes.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, "Säugling (infant)," she growled, watching the ash guardian advance on the man.

"No! No, please! Help!" the man cried, shaking like a child facing down the monster in the dark. 

She gave him a cruel smirk, watching as the creature bore down on him before a blast of ice from behind her, froze the Guardian in place. She blinked at the crystalized rock creature before turning to look at Neloth coming down the walkway with a scowl and had to stifle the giddy giggle at the idiot getting in trouble. 

"What do you think you were doing? Summoning an Ash Guardian without a Heartstone is dangerous, you idiot," Neloth growled, glaring at the apprentice mage as he stood. 

"I'm sorry, Master Neloth. I just thought..." 

"No! You didn't  _think_ or you wouldn't have conjured it in the first place. You haven't had the proper training for an advanced spell like that, and at this rate, you never will," Neloth said, glancing at Cassidy as she smirked at the scene, "can I help you?"

She shrugged, sliding from the railing and smiling, "yes. I was wondering if there are any hotels or motels I can stay in."

Both the men gave her confused expressions before Neloth huffed, "there are no  _INNS_ here, if that is what you are asking about. If you need a place to stay, Raven Rock is a days journey from here."

Cassidy stared at him for a few moments before furrowing her brow, "you have no spare beds, at all?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the man.

"This is a place of study, not a place one could spend the night," the old man growled, looking down his nose at Cassidy. 

She stared at him for a few seconds, evaluating that he wouldn't be the type to give in to her innocent "I have nowhere else to go" ruse. She took a deep breath and nodded, "I understand. If you don't mind, I'd like to stick around a little and study these strange... buildings," she said, making a show of looking around the mushroom village, "I've never seen anything like it before."

Neloth glared at her for a few seconds before nodding, "very well. I shall accept that," he said as he walked past her and back up the walkway to his mushroom. 

 _He's not a very friendly gnome,_ she thought with a smirk before glancing back at the frozen Ash Guardian,  _what do they plan to do about that thing? I hope it doesn't thaw any time soon._

* * *

She had watched the woman from earlier take the guardian to one of the other buildings, half making her curious about the building while her mind wandered from one thought to another. She lay back against the roof of one of the mushroom houses with her hands behind her head as she looked up into the brown, dreary sky.  _Solsthiem, huh?_ she thought, furrowing her brow as she went over how she had ended up in this almost barren wasteland like country.  _The client never said anything about that amulet having magic._ She snorted, glaring through the brown air,  _next time, I'm getting full details before taking the job and they're paying me at least half,_ she leaned her head up enough to watch the woman from earlier leave the giant mushroom and head for, what Cassidy had determined to be, her house.  _If I get back from where ever this place is._ She waited for nightfall, determined to steal that strange book that was behind that caged door, at this point, more for pay back for Neloth being rude than because she liked stealing things. She heard a howl in the distance, thinking back on what that hunter had said about werewolves, and sitting up to stare out over the barren wasteland of ash, grey dirt and mushrooms. Both wanting and afraid to catch sight of anything amongst the mushroom stems.  _I hope I don't run into any werewolves._


	4. Black Book: The Hidden Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassidy steals the black book from Tel Mithryn, sending her into Hermaeus Mora's realm of Apocrypha to find the hidden secret. I do NOT envy her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind you, I did this playthrough at level 2... O_O yeah... T-T The one time I'm grateful for Console commands. >_> I disabled so many things.

Night fell on the little mushroom village, bringing with it the cold chill that she hoped she had left behind with the snow. She tugged the cloak tighter around herself, watching and waiting for the right opportunity to sneak into the giant mushroom and steal that book. She didn't know why she wanted that book so badly, but she did. It was almost a deep compulsion pushing her to an uncontrollable need to possess that book. She waited, watching the woman from earlier leave her home and start down the path leading out of the village with a pack on her back. Cassidy tilted her head, watching the woman walk for a few moments before she disappeared from sight. She waited, watching the spot the woman disappeared at before a blood-curdling scream echoed over the ashen land, almost making her hair stand up on end if she wasn't already mentally prepared for a werewolf attack. When the woman didn't even crawl back over the hill, Cassidy inhaled the dry, cold air, licking her lips before sliding off the mushroom, hoping that whatever had gotten that woman wouldn't come over the hill and spot her. She moved up the walkway leading to the largest mushroom, hoping that Neloth was asleep as she slipped inside the large fungus. She refrained from giggling as she floated up to the landing, surprised at Neloth standing with his back to her, completely stark still. She glanced toward the bedroll she had seen earlier in a small offset of the room, giving the young man that caused the monster to appear earlier a raised eyebrow. She turned her attention back to the older, angry blue gnome before moving forward as she cleared her throat. He didn't move, making her tilt her head as she moved around him, blinking at the blank expression on his face. She cleared her throat again, a little louder this time, and still no response. She frowned, furrowing her brows as she moved to stand directly in front of him, staring at his face with narrowed eyes before reaching up and waving her hand in his face. She felt her lips curve up in a smirk at the blankness in his eyes.  _This bastard's sleeping on his feet with his eyes open,_ she thought, holding in a laugh as she moved back around to his side. With careful precision, Cassidy's fingers slipped into his pocket, retrieving a small two-pronged key and stepping away from him as he started to rouse. She slipped the key into her pocket, tilting her head at him and smiling as if she hadn't just stolen something right off the man's person.

He turned to look at her, frowning at her mere presence, "have you seen Verona? I'm hungry," the man said in an almost whiney voice. 

She gave him a confused expression, putting her finger to her lips as she pretended to think, "no I haven't seen her."

The man huffed, folding his arms over his chest like a pouting child, "well find her. Tell her I want apple cabbage stew with some Canis root tea."

Cassidy stared at him in partial disbelief for a few seconds, stunned that he would just order her around, "um... I'm not your servant and you don't pay me," she said, giving him a pleasant smile.

"Obviously not, or you would have a cup of tea in your hands," he growled, glaring at her. 

She stood staring at him with instant anger flashing in her eyes.  _Easy Cass. He's not worth it. You have the key to that locked room. Don't push your luck._ She inhaled, calming herself enough to keep smiling at him as he gave an annoyed, groaning sigh.

"I suppose you want to be asked nicely. Very well," he groaned, rolling his eyes, "please, find Verona. I shall be ever so grateful."

She narrowed her eyes at him, the smile wilt slightly into a snarl before she tilted her head, grinning at him, "no," she sang, startling the man.

"No? What do you mean, no? Do you have any idea who I am?" he growled, his voice getting loud.

Cassidy giggled, "I don't care."

He bore his teeth at her, his eyes full of fury, "why you impudent little worm! I should roast you alive where you stand and capture your soul in a gem for my experiments, for being so disrespectful."

Cassidy grinned at him before stepping forward, "respect is earned, not demanded," she sang, booping his nose, which shocked him farther. 

"How _DARE_ you!" he hissed, making her laugh as she booped his nose again.

"Boop!" she squeaked, grinning from ear to ear. 

"ENOUGH!!" he practically screamed in that squeaky, desperate voice men get when you've annoyed them to a certain point.

Cassidy giggled, grinning at the angry blueish man as he stormed off to the other side of the mushroom. She smirked after him, her eyes narrowing at the strangely weaved door before glancing toward Neloth once again. She stifled a giddy chuckle as she moved to the door, pushing the key into the small keyhole in the center of the door before turning it. She furrowed her brow at the wooden scraping sound coming from the lock, glancing over her shoulder at Neloth as she finished turning the key and pulled it out of the hole as the door crackled and rolled up with an unusual grinding sound that you wouldn't expect to hear coming from the strange door made of a fungus. 

She slowly stepped inside the room, glancing from the strange glowing table with candles burning and a demon skull, to the weird table with a long stick like thing over a strange glowing lava looking ball. She tilted her head, slowly moving forward to look at the bottles of strange liquid sitting on a couple of boxes. She lifted one from the box, pulling the cork from the top and wafting it under her nose. She sniffled and gasped before sneezing. "Achee!" she squeaked, putting the cork back on the bottle before setting it back down on the box. Her eyes expertly moved through the tiny room, finally settling on the black book sitting on the glowing table. She leaned over, running her hand around the edge of the table, looking for a wire or a pressure plate or something to sound an alarm she was sure was in the small room.  _Why else would this room be locked up tighter than a miser's purse?_ she thought, leaning around the table as she crouched down, looking under it to check for wires. She sat up on her heels, frowning at the table as she stood, glancing toward the other room.  _This HAS to be a trick,_ she thought, looking back at the book. She took a deep breath, licking her lips as she put her hand hovering over the book, wiggling her fingers before quickly snatching the book and jumping back, holding the book in front of her as if to protect herself from any traps.

She stood frozen for a few seconds before letting out a calming breath and smirking down at the Black Book in her hand. She ran her hand over the book, tracing the embossing with her fingertips as the book hummed in her hands. She swallowed, her mouth going dry with excitement as she slowly opened the book.

She started looking over the words, narrowing her eyes at the complexity of the sentences before the book started to violently shake in her hands. Her eyes went wide as black tentacles shot out of the pages, wrapping around her arms and neck before jerking her forward. She cried out, mostly from the cold as it slashed at her cheeks and arms, making her shiver as she slowly opened her eyes. 

Her eyes widened at the dark towers and walls of books and stone. The cold wind coming up at her from the black water making her gasp as she slowly floated down into a section of the stacked books and stone. 

She stood scanning over the creepy statues and strange glow that cast chilling shadows over everything. She swallowed, turning where she stood to look at everything, mostly to make sure there were no monsters or enemies behind her. 

"So, another seeker after knowledge enters my realm," a deep voice echoed off the books and walls.

Cassidy turned, taking a defensive stance as her eyes raised up to the ball of tentacles and eyes floating high in the dim, smoggy sky.  _What the hell is THAT!?!_

As if it could read her mind, the black tentacle monster spoke again, "I am Hermaeus Mora, Prince of Fate and Lord of Secrets. This is Apocrypha, where all knowledge is hoarded." The eye looked directly at her, sending a chill down her spine as it narrowed in amusement, "huh... Perhaps you will prove clever enough to uncover the secrets hidden here. If so, welcome." The eye narrowed more in agitation this time, "or, perhaps you are a fool or a coward. If so, you are in peril. Read your book again, and escape before Apocrypha claims you forever."

Cassidy perked up at hearing "secrets" and felt an almost crazed grin spread across her lips, "secrets? What kind of secrets? Are they shiny secrets? Blackmail secrets? Secrets no one can find anywhere else in the world?"

The eye stared at her for a few seconds, narrowing as if the monster was thinking about something. "You are not a typical mortal seeking knowledge, are you?"

Cassidy giggled, "I seek what people keep behind locked doors in places they think are safe from prying eyes and sticky fingers," she said, giving the tentacle thing a grin, "I want your secrets scary tentacle monster." Her expression went emotionless, the smile she kept plastered void of any emotion, "and I'm not leaving until I get them."

The tentacle monster's eye widened, "you... remind me of someone." 

Cassidy blinked a few times, tilting her head slightly as she smiled, "who?"

The giant eye in the sky remained silent for a few moments before humming to itself and disappearing.

Cassidy frowned, glaring at the spot in the sky where the tentacle eye had been, "seriously? You're just going to leave me to my own devices after saying that? Pfft." She shook her head as she moved forward, her eyes scanning everything for any treasures. Pages from books fluttered around in circles, creating some sort of reader's tornado of knowledge. A couple of pages on the ground flicked up on their ends, only to settle back on the ground as if nothing had happened. She looked over the books stacked to the sky, having a hard time determining if they were real books or hunks of stone made to look like books. She didn't dare touch them, for fear of being pulled into an even worse world. 

She paused in front of a strange plant looking thing, tilting her head as she leaned over to look at the pedestal that it sat on as well as the strange looking leaves. She licked her lips, standing up and tapping her finger lightly on the pointed spear-like horns coming up from the center of the leaves. She rubbed her finger and thumb together as she looked at the small glowing orange ball hanging from one of them. She tilted her head as she reached out to poke it, stepping back in surprise when everything folded in on the small ball and the door behind it opened up. She glanced around behind her, wondering if that tentacle thing was going to pop out of nowhere and attack her for opening the door, but when it didn't, she started through the open door, rubbing her hands over her arms at the feeling of eyes on the back of her skull. 

She headed down the black, macramé style walled hallway toward a book sitting in the center of the room. She looked around the room, expecting the tentacle thing to come out of nowhere and again, nothing. 

Cautiously, she stepped up to the book, watching the black inked symbols and letters dance around the page. She furrowed her brow, her eyes focusing in on a few of the symbols, recognizing them but not remembering from where. She swallowed, shaking the thoughts from her head as she took a deep breath and placed her hand on the book, not sure if that was what she was supposed to do or not, but letting her body move on its own. She expected a set of tentacles to wrap around her and jerk her into the book, but when all she felt was a cold breeze wrap around her, she closed her eyes, the wind rushing past her ears before she could only hear the sounds of this strange world. 

She opened her eyes, looking down the long, barely lit hallway of book stones. She took a deep breath, swallowing as she stood straight with her shoulders back, and her chest puffed up and her chin up as she started through the hallway. She held her nerves, cautiously rounding the corners as if she were stealing a piece of prized art and trying to avoid all security guards. She paused at one of the windows before the hallway opened up into the room, looking through the black lace window panes with sharp, calculating eyes. When she didn't see anything, she continued through the hallway, hesitating before stepping out into the large room. 

A greenish haze floated along the floor, glowing in the dim lights of the room. The flags hanging from the arches flicked in the chill, but no wind blew. At least, no wind she could feel. Her eyes scanned the dark corners of the room, catching glimpses of strange, floating tentacle creatures on the other side of the archways. She swallowed, moving forward to hide behind the arches as she carefully leaned out to look at the strange creatures. 

Her eyes widened, taking in as many of the creature's features as she could. Four arms, Tentacles for feet, a weird hump and a gaping hole in the middle of the creature's stomach... and it was floating. She leaned back against the arch, staring off at the doorway she had just come from as she tried to make sense of what she had just seen.  _First a weird Eyeball with tentacles in the sky, then these tentacle things with four hands. I'm starting to think this is the beginning of a bad, tentacle fetish Hentai,_ she thought, leaning back out to look for a way past the creatures without having to fight them.  
  


She spotted the stairs leading up to, where she hoped was the exit of this room, there was just one problem. One of the strange creatures was in the way. She mentally measured the distance from where she stood in hiding to the small area between another arch and the wall, as well as the space between the wall and archway. She swallowed, leaning back against the archway as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes to calculate the steps and how silent she would have to be to get past the creatures before opening her eyes, determined to get through this strange place and get that secret. She lowered the mask over her eyes and smirked, crouching as she skittered across to the wall, sticking as close to the wall as she could while keeping her eyes on the strange monsters hovering across the floor. She smirked at the one that had it's back turned.  _Where's the other one?_ she thought, carefully looking around the corner for the second one. She cursed under her breath as it turned facing her, pressing herself back against the books as she closed her eyes. She slowed her breathing and heart rate, instantly calming herself the way she did when she was about to do a big job. She gave a nod, stepping away from the wall as she pulled her butterfly knife from the pouch on the side of her leg and flipped it open as she rushed at the creature, leaping into the air and bringing the knife down where she thought the head was... except she went completely through the creature. Her eyes went wide as she jumped back, narrowly avoiding an almost invisible ball of energy.  _What the Hell?_ she thought, turning in time to jump back as the second creature started attacking her.  _Where's_ _the attacks coming from?_ She shuffled back, dodging attack after attack as she stumbled backwards up the stairs and fell back onto her butt. She winced, furrowing her brow as she instinctually rolled out of the way of another attack and turned, scuttling to her feet and running up the incline through a doorway. "Shit," she hissed, turning to watch the creatures slowly hovering up the incline toward her as she gave the small glowing ball hanging off the vine in the pedestal a flick, dropping the ball down and bringing the bridge up. 

She ran across it, stumbling as the bridge started to drop back down, pushing her adrenaline into overdrive as she lept at the last moment to land in a roll on the section of walkway. She gave a yelp as she rolled too far, twisting as she fell to grab onto the edge of the thin section. She ground her teeth, pulling herself up and rolling into the center of the area, breathing heavily from the fright she had given herself. She lifted her head enough to look toward the doorway she had just come from, smirking to herself as she let her head fall back onto the ground.  _It's been a long time since I've run like that,_ she thought, sitting up with a sigh. She took several deep breaths, calming her rapidly beating heart before pushing to her feet and stretching her arms and neck. "That was fun," she said, grinning to herself as she hopped from one piece of the walkway to the other, pausing only once she reached the end and waiting for the bridge to raise. She jumped onto it, moving quickly to the other side before turning back to look across the large, dark water filled the room at the doorway.  _Well, there's no turning back now,_ she thought, smirking,  _not that I would anyway._ She stood in the center of the doorway, looking down one incline then the other, trying to decide which way would be better. She furrowed her brow at the darker area, glancing back toward the way she had just come before taking a breath.  _Is whatever's down there worth risking running into more of those tentacle things?_ she thought, tapping her finger against her lips in thought before shaking her head,  _I'll just find those secrets and leave before I die again._ She turned to the right, walking down the incline toward the light. 

She glanced around the small alcove, feeling a little disappointed that there weren't any treasures but glad that there weren't any of those creatures either. She took a deep breath, wrinkling her nose at the smell of damp books, dirt, and stone as she moved to the book in the corner and put her hand on the pages. She closed her eyes against the whoosh of cold, muggy air before her feet scraped on the stone once again and she opened her eyes. 

She moved through the minor hallways and stepped out onto a walkway that went across the water toward a set of stairs leading up to a raised part of the walkway. She glanced around the area, tilting her head at the long, black tentacles rising up out of the dark water and wagging slowly back and forth like a lazy dog's tail. She stepped out from the doorway, looking across the water-filled room to the closed and locked doorway. She frowned at it, glancing around for one of those weird glowing plant things. Her eyes caught sight of a walkway that looked to circle around the side of the entry and up. She glanced once more toward the stairs and the raised area before heading up the walkway, being sure to move slowly and carefully, in case one of those weird creatures was waiting for her at the top. She scanned the surface before giving a sigh of relief as she smiled at the plant as she approached and tapped the glowing ball. It dropped down into the plant, her eyes moving across the room to the door as it swung open. Her eyes widened for a second at the giant creature just inside the door as it walked by the doorway. She concentrated on the doorway, furrowing her brows,  _what was that?_ She stood stark still, watching for that thing to walk by the doorway, only moving when nothing else did. She walked down the walkway, pausing at the edge of the raised part of the walkway she was standing on as she glanced at the tentacles. 

She gave the tentacles a raised eyebrow but opted to ignore them as she started to walk across the walkway toward the stairs. She gave a yelp as one of the tentacles came down, lashing at her back and spinning her around to glare at the black thing. It rose up and back once again before flinging at her. She stepped back, turning her body to the side as it came down on the floor in front of her. She lifted her foot, bringing it down hard on the tentacle before it could pull back, and grinding her foot into the thick, fleshy thing. She heard a sharp squeal from the thing before three more broke from the water, slashing down at her as she expertly dodged the attacks, backflipping to the stairs. She stood on the steps, frowning at the tentacles as they retreated below the water, making her snort. "Pointless," she muttered, standing straight and brushing herself off as she turned, flipping her hair over her shoulder and trotting up the steps. 

She smirked at the table with the large gems, snagging them and looking them over as she hummed Mary Had a Little Lamb to herself, almost oblivious to everything else around her. She stuffed the gems into her pack and smiled as she put it back on her back and turned, giving a cry as she was slammed back against the altar by a sudden push thrown at her from the tentacle creature she wasn't aware of. She grunted as she slid to the ground, stunned for a few seconds as she shook her head and lifted her gaze to the creature. Her eyes widened as the creature threw another one at her before rolling out of the way. She scuttled to her feet and ran toward the doorway, her only thoughts of getting away from the creature, even if that meant running straight into the other creature she saw.

She gave a shriek as the large creature turned, glaring at her with dark, large, fish-like eyes that sent a shiver down her spine. The ground shook as it moved toward her, it's feet making a slapping noise against the cold stone that held her frozen. She stumbled back a step as it took a swing down at her, barely missing as she jumped back, slipping on a couple of the pages that littered the ground. She regained her footing just in time to duck under a wildly swung arm and make a break for the underside of the stairs. She weaved in and out of the columns of books, trying to break the creature's line of sight long enough to hide. She caught sight of a small area that was pushed back into a corner, the perfect hiding spot for a thief on the run. Without breaking stride, she turned, bolting into the corner alcove and pressing back against the rock book walls, taking a deep breath and holding it to calm her rapidly beating heart. The creature's heavy footsteps slapped against the ground, moving closer and closer. The ground vibrated with it's every step and she could hear it breathing, wet and gurgly. She swallowed, closing her eyes as she said a prayer to any and all gods and goddesses she knew that it wouldn't find her.  _It'll crush me if it does,_ she thought, her mind forcing her to feel the creature breathing on the back of her neck.

* * *

_She winced against his thrusts, grinding her teeth as he pumped into her over and over, his breath hot on the back of her neck._

_"Ohh, Cassidy. Du wirst mir so starke Kinder geben (Ohh, Cassidy. You will give me such strong children)," he purred against the back of her neck, making her shiver as his thrusts increased, making her whimper._

_The spikes going through her knees shifted, sending tendrils of sharp pain up her thighs and spine, making her cry out._

_"Du magst das, richtig (You like that, right)? Mmm, das ist gut (Mmm, that's good)," he hummed, standing straight and thrusting harder, making her shift on the spikes._

_Tears started trickling down her cheeks as she shook her head, the harness wrapped around her arms and ribs starting to cut into her skin, "Nein! Ich mag es nicht Bitte hör auf! Es tut weh! (No! I do not like it! Please stop! It hurts!)"_

_He sneered, gripping her hair and jerking back, pulling another cry from her, "Ich werde starke Kinder von Ihnen bekommen, ob Sie sie geben wollen oder nicht! (I will get strong children from you, whether you want to give them or not!)," he hissed in her ear, purposely shifting her to cause pain as he buried himself in her, "Starke Frauen machen starke Kinder, und Sie werden die stärksten machen. (Strong women make strong children, and you will make the strongest.)"_

_"Nein! Nein!" she screamed, feeling helpless and alone as he raped her over and over again._

* * *

She gave a sharp inhale, realizing that the monster was gone as she came back from the memory, frowning at her own mind.  _That had nothing to do with monsters, stupid brain,_ she growled at herself, shaking her head as she peeked out from her hiding place.

She let out a relieved breath and nodded, glancing at a book sitting a few feet from her. She felt herself grin as she moved to the book, being as careful and quiet as she could before putting her hand on the book,  _here's hoping this gets me away from here,_ she thought as she was enveloped in cold. She grinned and breathed a little bit easier as she turned before her eyes went wide. She had just enough time to duck under an attack that was sent at her by one of those floating tentacle monsters. She stumbled back, landing against the pedestal and was about to reach up and touch the book when she saw one of those strange plant things behind the creature that opened the doors. She swallowed, rolling out of the way of another attack and up to her feet, dodging yet another attack.  _I have to get to that lever, I think,_ she thought, sidestepping the monster's attack before rushing forward.  _I just have to touch the golden ball._ She ducked under the creature's thin arms, moving to place the pedestal between her and the creature before flicking the golden ball. Her eyes went wide when it flung itself across the room to bounce against the wall and land on the floor. She frowned at the ball, crouching behind the pedestal as the monster attacked her again.  _You've gotta be fucking kidding me!_  She took a few deep breaths before bolting out from behind the pedestal, putting all her weight behind a shove... that went through the creature. She grunted as she landed on the ground beside it, looking at the thing with confused eyes.  _What the hell?_ she thought, scrambling to her feet,  _I went through it. That's cheating!_  She dodged another attack, diving for the glowing ball and scooping it up before rolling out of the way of another attack. She got to her feet and ducked under the creature's arm, throwing the glowing ball into the hole in the pedestal. She crouched behind the pedestal as the plant thing closed up, using it as a buffer again from the monster's attack. She leaned back, taking a few deep breaths before shooting out from the pedestal and rushing past the creature and slapping her hand down on the book as it sent out another attack. She closed her eyes, bracing for the attack only to feel that cool wind of going through the book. She gasped as she fell back against the pedestal, closing her eyes as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. She swallowed, slowly opening her eyes to see the giant creature standing before her, glaring down at her with those emotionless, black eyes.  _Fuck me!_

She gave it a nervous smile clearing her throat before saying, "hi..."

The creature let loose a deafening roar that sent her to her feet, racing past the beast in a panic as it swung it's fists down on her, missing thanks to her swiftness. 

She raced around the pillars of books and up the ramp, hoping that it led to an exit to... anywhere but being chased down by a monster. She huffed as she reached the top, her eyes going wide at the pedestal on the end of the ramp. "You've gotta be kidding me!" she shouted, skidding to a stop at the pedestal and jerking the glowing ball from the vine, shoving it roughly into the hole before instinctively ducking under the monster's arm as it swung at her. She spun, turning to face the creature with a smirk as she shuffled back, avoiding the monster's attacks. She narrowed her eyes, scanning over the creature with quick eyes before snorting, "I'm not playing with you anymore," she said, flipping backward off the ramp and landing gently on the ground below. She looked up at the monster as it hissed down at her before giggling as she jogged through the doorway and moved up the next ramp to the door, jerking it open before pulling it closed behind her, hoping that it'll slow the monster down when it followed her. She started down the hallway to the other end of the room when movement out of the corner of her eye gave her pause. She quickly crouched down, leaning slightly out to see one of those tentacle monsters hovering past the pillars. Luckily, it hadn't seen her, and she was going to keep it that way. She moved quickly from one pillar to the next, carefully peeking out around the pillar before moving to the next one. When the creature stopped and turned to go back the other way, she made sure to move just after it had gone past the little hallway between her and it. She inhaled, smiling to herself as she sauntered toward the end of the hallway, narrowing her eyes in glee at the flesh pouch.

She stretched out her hand to touch the pouch when the wall shuddered, moving back away from her and stretching the hallway and giving her a slight feeling of vertigo. She shook her head, putting her hand on the table to keep herself from falling over as she blinked rapidly to clear her mind. She inhaled, staring at the two books at the end of the hallway. She let out a sigh, glancing back toward the hallway she had just come from, where that last black book had sent her into a small room with a tentacle creature. She furrowed her brow, wondering if it was worth continuing on before hearing laughter.

"What's wrong with the little mortal? Are ye scared? Makes sense, since you are in the world of one of the Daedra," the insane sounding voice said with a chuckle, "no one would fault you if you decided to just... turn tail and run like the scared little mortal that ye are."

Cassidy glanced around, looking for the source of the voice before taking a deep breath, "I'm not going anywhere without that reward," she said, her mind making itself up as she walked with purpose toward the books. 

She stood at the books, looking from one to the other as the black, inked words scrolled across the pages. She narrowed her eyes, a few of the strange symbols standing out to her. "Chapter.... five?..." she muttered, looking at the other book, "chapter... six..." She took a deep breath, putting her hand on Chapter five before being whisked away to another room where a tentacle creature floated. She crouched down, hiding behind the pedestal before the beast could see her as she took several deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart.  _I have to get that little glowing ball in the hole. I hope it doesn't go flying off again,_ she thought, peeking out from behind the pedestal. The creature's back was turned to her, making her smirk as she pulled her butterfly knife from her thigh and opened it as quietly as she could. She took a deep breath, feeling her entire body go numb for a few seconds, calming her to the point of an almost trans-like state before she slowly got to her feet and started for the monster. The knife had just become an extension of her hand, as all her weapons had when she was younger...

* * *

_Das Messer ist eine Verlängerung von mir, von meinem Arm. Ich bin die Waffe. Ich zerstöre, was ich anfasse und werde es tun. (The knife is an extension of me, of my arm. I am the weapon. I destroy what I touch and I will do it.) She rushed forward at the other woman, bringing her dagger up to embed under the woman's ribcage, piercing and shredding every organ it tore through. She ground her teeth, looking the woman that she had once thought of as an older sister in the eye as the woman smiled at her. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth, dripping down her chin to paint the already filthy arena in red. The woman hugged her, the dagger digging deeper into her as she gasped from the pain._

_"Ich hoffe, du findest deine Freiheit besser als ich, Cassidy, (I hope you find your freedom better than me, Cassidy,)" she whispered against Cassidy's hair, startling the young girl before she went limp, falling back. Her body sliding off the daggers like the sound of cloth ripping._

_Cassidy stared at the woman's dead body, the look of peace and happiness on her face burning itself into Cassidy's mind as the announcer called out her victory, getting a loud cheer from the crowd that she couldn't hear past the breaking of her own heart._ Was habe ich gemacht? (What have I done?) _she thought, tears streaming down her cheeks as Father came to her with another man, motioning to her as if she were a prize that the man had won. She didn't hear what they were saying, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was her friend, her sister's body, laying on the ground, bloody, bruised, broken, and... smiling. Her mind didn't snap back to reality until her arm was grabbed roughly, snapping her out of her stupor. She turned, throwing her hand out with the dagger, slicing across the strange man's neck. His eyes went wide as blood gushed from the wound down the front of his high class shirt. She spun the dagger around in her hand, holding it up before bringing it down on the man's forehead, embedding it in his skull. She felt nothing as she snapped the dagger at the crossguard, giving the man a kick to the chest, sending the dead body back to land on the tortured ground with a thump. Father moved forward, reaching out to grab her and missing as she ducked under his arms. She brought her fist up in an uppercut, still holding the grip as a fist pack and knocking him out and back to the ground. She stood over them, her emotions gone. Her body numb. Her life and heart in shambles. She threw the handle of the dagger down, running from the arena as the tears trailed down her cheeks. Racing through the tunnels of her underground Hell as quickly as she could, not knowing or caring where she was going or where she would end up._

* * *

The creature turned as she brought the knife up, stabbing it one, two, three, four times in the chest. The creature snarled at her as she gripped the tentacles on the face, jerking back and twisting herself around, pulling the creature around quickly before releasing it, smacking it hard against the wall behind the pedestal, stunning it for a moment. Dark blue blood dribbled down the monster's front from the stabs, pooling under it as she plucked the ball from the vine and dropped it in the hole before moving back to the book. She cried out, a few steps from the book when the monster sent out a force wave, causing her to stumble. Her eyes became unfocused as she turned, noting that the monster before her wasn't bleeding. She narrowed her eyes at the droplets of blood going to the corner of the room, where more were slowly starting to appear. She snorted, sidestepping the creature's attack before throwing the knife toward the corner. The creature screamed, becoming visible as the puppet disappeared and she moved toward it, her emotions gone. She rushed forward as it started to go invisible again, bringing her fist around to hit it in the side of, what she could only assume to be its face. It grunted, leaving itself open as she jerked the knife from its body and brought it up, flashing back to killing that man as she brought the knife down on the center of the monster's forehead, between its creepy worm eyes. She fought the urge to snap the handle off the blade, jerking the knife from the creature's head as it dropped to the floor, bleeding. She stood over it, her entire being numb as she knelt down, wiping the creature's blood from the blade before putting it back on her thigh as she stood, looking up at the greenish, grey sky. "Mit dem Leben zu spielen, als wäre es ein verdammtes Schachspiel, macht keinen Spaß! Es ist krank! (Playing with life as if it were a fucking chess game is no fun! It is sick!)" she shouted at the sky before looking down at the creature. "I'm sorry you had to die for me to survive." She took a deep breath, turning and heading back to the book that took her back to the room with the two books. 

* * *

"She's got some fight in her," the Daedric God said with a chuckle, "that's unexpected. I do love when the mortals have surprises up their sleeves."

"She seems fun. I might give her a try myself, when she's beaten your little maze game, Mora," the prince wearing daedric armor said, taking a long drink from his tankard.

"If she can make it to the end, she will have earned the reward," Hermaeus Mora said, watching her appear from the book in the previous area.

"If you don't give her one, I've got a good reward right here," the prince said, giving a hip thrust, making the God laugh as Mora rolled his eyes.

"Classy."

* * *

She put her hand on the next book as soon as she was out of the other, sending her into the next area. She looked around, mentally prepared to fight another one of those tentacle things. She moved through the hall into the more brightly lit hallway where two more books stood in an alcove. She glanced through the grates of the room. Taking a deep breath to bring her emotions and feeling back into her body before looking out at the dark water, listening to the water lap at the book rocks and stone floors and walls.  _Once I'm through the maze, I'll have that treasure._ She moved to one of the books, reading the chapter numbers before placing her hand on Chapter seven. She teleported to the next area, her eyes going wide as the tentacle creature disappeared and another one appeared. She dodged an attack, moving swiftly past the creature's puppet and giving the invisible monster a swift kick to, what she assumed was the stomach. It screeched, becoming visible as it moved back a couple of feet, trying to get away from her and clearing the way for her to get to the glowing ball pedestal. She ran forward, grabbing the ball and was about to drop it in the hole when she was hit with another attack, knocking her away from the pedestal. She dropped the ball as she hit the ground near the black water with a grunt, the ball rolling away from her to drop into the water with a  _plunk_. Her eyes went wide as she got to her hands and knees, not worried about the dangers of the water as she pushed herself over the side to go after the ball. Instantly, the water started to tear her apart, making it feel as though her flesh was being ripped from her bones. She fought not to gasp as she swam down, stretching her arm out to snatch the ball. The water seemed to grip her as she started to swim for the top, feeling as though it was becoming a thick goop. darkness started to cloud her vision as she inhaled, taking in a large amount of the poisonous water. She choked on it, coughing out only to intake more. She looked up at the dim light on the surface, mere inches away from her fingertips before feeling.... nothing...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "OMG SHE DIED!!!" Is probably what you're thinking right now. I can only tell you this... She hasn't met Rofdir yet so... what do you think? ;-) you know how I like to leave y'all with cliff hangers. ^_^


	5. Waitressing Raven Rock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassidy takes a job of waitressing in the Retching Netch in Raven Rock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a mod on my game called Radiant Prostitution. You can get it from Loverslab.com if you play PC and it gives you the option of whoring yourself out, OR waitressing, which is what I had Cassidy doing for a couple of days. So! That's pretty much what this chapter'll be about. That and boarding a ship to where she thinks is Skyrim. Thinks being the key word.

"Awww," the insane voice groaned, "the little mortal died."

"And she was doing so well, too," the prince said, taking a long drink from his bottle of brandy, "oh well. It was fun to watch, while it lasted."

"And she made it so far. I was starting to like the little mortal," the insane voice sighed, "ah well. Back to my vacation!"

Mora sighed, extending his tentacles down into the poisonous water to pull the woman from the dark depths along with the glowing ball. He placed her on the ground, replacing the ball on the pedestal with a frown, "mortals are never strong enough to make it to the end of the maze."

"Hey, at least she didn't get your treasure, right? That's something," the prince said, giving the other daedra a grin.

"True but..." Mora paused, furrowing his brows at the woman as she coughed, spitting up the dark water as she rolled onto her side and got up on her elbows.

The prince widened his eyes, staring down at the woman before shouted out toward the insane one, "Shey! She's alive!"

The insane one rushed back to the looking portal, his eyes going wide for a moment before he gave a loud laugh, "HA! Well, would you look at that. The little mortal still has some life left in her," he said, his voice going low as he watched her struggle to her feet with narrowed pale eyes. "This just got a little more interesting."

* * *

Cassidy coughed as she stumbled to the pedestal, plucking the ball from the vine and dropping it into the hole while her lungs burned and her mind tried to clear itself. She gasped in air as she turned and slid down beside the pedestal, taking a seat with her arms on her knees and her head hung. Water still dripped down her cheeks, jaw, and neck, sliding down to her wet clothes as she closed her eyes, trying to reorient herself. She felt more than saw the creature hovering toward her, stopping a few feet from her as she looked up at it, watching the creature's expression seemed to turn to one of fear or wariness as it stared at her. She took a deep, burning breath and pushed to her feet in a single motion, tilting her head as a cruel smile spread over her lips. The creature moved back, it's hands up, ready to defend itself as she moved toward it, almost forcing it to move back with her. She stopped when she got to the book, keeping her eyes on the creature as she reached out. It gave a sharp, high pitched squeal, either of fear or warning, she wasn't sure, but after dying once already in this dreary world, she wasn't taking either. It hissed as she put her finger out, stopping it's noises when her finger touched the cold, slick skin between its eyes. "Boop!" she said, giving the creature a playful grin before putting her hand on the book, "bye-bye boogieman."

She stood at the book, facing the other one before touching it and being teleported to another area of Apocrypha. She looked around, frowning as the tentacle creature in front of her turned invisible, throwing a blast of force magic at her, knocking her back against the book behind her. She gave an annoyed huff, blowing some loose hair out of her eyes before getting to her feet and fixing her mask.  _This is getting annoying,_ she thought, starting for the hallway leading to a bridge that went across the black poisonous water. She ignored the force push from behind, stumbling a step forward as she ground her teeth, her eyes locked on the pedestal with the glowing ball. As she started across the bridge. She turned as she felt another push barely miss her, pulling one of her lockpicks and throwing it back at the creature, hitting it between the eyes before turning back and moving to the pedestal. She grabbed the glowing ball, putting it down the hole before the ground shook under her feet. She blinked, furrowing her brow as she turned, her eyes going wide at the giant lurker lumbering up the bridge as the door behind her separated.  _Shit,_ she thought, ducking under a wild swing from the giant fish man. She moved around to get behind him, giving the back of his leg a swift kick to the back of the knee, causing him to tumble to his hands and knees. She smirked, heading through the doors and quickly across the final bridge. She stopped dead in her tracks, frowning at the giant book sitting in the center of the area. "This?" she growled, moving to the book before looking up at the dreary sky as she jerked her mask off, " _THIS_ is the treasure?!? You've gotta be fucking kidding me. I risked my life and  _died_ for  _this!!_ " She glared at the book, ignoring the lumbering, slapping footsteps of the giant fish man coming up behind her as she clenched her fists and ground her teeth. 

"So, you're just going to let that monster crush you? How... interesting," a strange voice growled from the sky, making her frown.

"I wanted shinies! Not... THIS!!" she snarled, flipping the book off its pedestal. 

The Book opened, bringing forth three floating green orbs that hovered over the open pages. She blinked at them a few times, the sound of the giant getting closer before she took a deep breath, reaching out to pass her hand through the one on the far left. The green orb surrounded her, infusing her with a strange, cold feeling that sat in her gut. She swallowed, wrinkling her nose at the disgusting taste of poison left on her tongue before turning as the giant snarled at her from the edge of the area as the letters from the book flew from its pages, surrounding her in a whirlwind of black ink and letters. She turned in place, feeling herself start to leave this world before turning to face the giant with a smile, waving at the creature as if it were her best friend. "Bye-bye Fishface!" Lights flashed and she was gone.

* * *

"Well... what do you know. She actually made it to the end," the prince said, smirking as he finished another bottle of alcohol.

"Yes. It seems so," Mora grumbled.

"Ah, don't be like that. Not everybody thinks a book is a treasure," the prince said, lowering his voice, "no normal person, anyway."

Mora scowled at the prince as the demon laughed.

"I think I'm going to keep an eye on this one. She seemed... interesting, for a mortal," the insane one said, rubbing his beard as he smiled at the show orb in front of him.

"Me too. For a different reason, I'm sure," the prince said, stretching as he started for the gate, "I'll catch you gents later. I have a mortal woman to whoo."

* * *

Cassidy stumbled as she appeared in the room she had just broken into, panting a few times as she tried to reorient herself. She looked around, the black book lay at her feet, closed tight as if she had only dropped it. She sighed, brushing a few strands of loose hair away from her forehead as she smiled, "I will never do that again." She left the room, leaving the black book where it lay, half afraid of ending up back in that world. She paused, glancing at the apprentice as he gave a small creature a kick.

"Get away from me you worthless beast!" the man snarled as the creature squealed and scuttled away from him.

Cassidy scowled, starting toward the man as he raised his hand, fire sprouting to life in his palm. She reached out without thinking anything other than to stop the man from setting fire to the poor creature. A black, goopy hole appeared in front of him, making the man cry out as tentacles burst from the hole, wrapping around the man and tossing him away from the small creature. She stared, wide-eyed at the tentacles before looking down at her own hand and smiling,  _that'll come in handy,_ she thought, moving to kneel beside the creature. She hesitated, noticing that the creature was a small spider... well, bigger than the spiders she was used to. It shivered, shifting away from her as she raised her hand to touch it as if it were afraid of her hitting him. "Oh no. It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you," she said, glancing around the area for something. She smiled at the piece of cheese sitting on one of the tables and cut off a piece before taking it to the spider, "see? Here. Friend." She smiled as the spider reached out with one of its legs, tapping the piece of cheese in her hand before moving forward to eat it from her palm. She giggled, patting it gently on the head, "that's a good spider. But what to call you?" She thought for a few moments, smiling when she came to a name, "Hank. I'm going to call you Hank," she said with a smile before standing straight, "well, Hank, shall we leave here before both of us get in trouble?"

They moved to the exit and out the door, moving quickly to get away from the mushroom village before they were discovered. They stopped over the hill near some of the large mushrooms, watching a herd of the large, tentacle creatures move across the land. She looked up at the mushroom above them, giving a nod as she jumped onto the mushroom top, "stay down there, Hank. I don't want you to get hurt," she called down, standing on the edge of the mushroom to look across the water at the strange ruins.  _I don't know if this is the right way or not. Maybe not,_ she thought, hopping back down, "do you know where we need to go, Hank? I don't even really know where I am."

The spider gave her a squeal before turning and starting over the hill.

"Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

Cassidy's mouth opened slightly at the sight of the village set amongst the ash. "Wow. This place is... not as amazing as the mushroom village. I hope the people are nicer," she muttered, reaching down to pat the spider on the head with a smile, "you did good, Hank. We'll get you some... bugs or something for dinner. How's that sound?" The spider danced excitedly in place, giving a squeal as she giggled, "okay, okay. Let's find an inn or something first."

* * *

The Retching Netch sounded as disgusting as the rest of the city, but that was where she was told she could get work.  _I need to make some honest coin and scope out the people in this town,_ she told herself as she stepped through the door. She glanced at the four men standing on the top landing where the door was, making sure to put herself between them and Hank. One was dressed from head to toe in some sort of armor that looked perfect for the sandy parts of Solstheim and reminded her of what people wore in Egypt during a sandstorm. One man sat to the left of the entrance and stairs, his pale purplish skin making her think that he had held his breath too long. Her eyes moved to the other two men, one leaning against the wall next to a table with darker purple skin as the other sat in a chair at the table, drinking from a tankard. She tilted her head as she watched him for a few seconds, wondering how he keeps the drink in his mouth with the underbite. The man turned his attention to her, narrowing his dark eyes at her before snorting.

"What are you looking at, girl?" the man growled in a gruff voice. 

She stared at him for a few seconds before giving him her usual smile and trotting down the steps with hank following. 

The underground Inn was dark and slightly gloomy with the smell of alcohol and damp dirt, but it made her feel at home. She glanced at the shadows, her eyes sharpening at the dark corners and tables set back out of the way.  _This is a place to do some shady meetings and exchanges,_ she thought, moving into the more lighted area of the Inn. 

She admired the decorations, smiling at the deer skulls mounted on the walls before someone clearing their throat turned her attention around to an ashen-skinned man standing behind the bar.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his high, English accent surprising her a bit as he frowned at Hank, "is that a spider?"

 _Maybe I'm in England,_ she thought, giving him a smile,  _it's dreary enough to be, anyway._ "Yes, he is. I was just wondering if we could get a room for the night," she said.

He looked her over before nodding, "sure, as long as it doesn't make a nest. That'll be ten septims," he said, holding his hand out expectantly.

Cassidy sighed and rubbed the back of her head, "well, you see, I don't exactly have any money."

"No money. No room," the man said, shaking his head as he went back to cleaning the tankards.

She frowned and glanced around the nearly empty tavern, "I... could work for you. Serving drinks and food, if you need it. Hank can scare off people that cause trouble," she offered, getting a thoughtful look from the man.  _Not to mention scout out the best targets in this city. Everyone eventually ends up at the bar._

He nodded, "very well. I'll accept your offer and, in exchange for the work, I'll give you a room here at the Inn. Sound fair?"

Cassidy gave him a grin, "sounds more than fair! So, what do I do?"

"Well, for starters, you can have something to eat so you don't get hungry. I imagine you're famished. Solstheim isn't the nicest place for a girl like you," he said, setting a plate with a tart on it in front of her and another plate with raw meat beside that one. 

Cassidy smiled at the tart and set the raw meat plate on the ground for Hank before she took a seat at the bar, "thank you. My name is Cassidy. Cassidy Blane and this gorgeous creature is Hank."

"The name's Geldis Sadri. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," the man said, cleaning a tankard with a cloth, "we won't get busy until a little bit later after the sun goes down when everyone closes their shops or finishes their errands for the day. Be ready for anything."

Cassidy giggled, surprising the man slightly, "I'm always ready for anything," she said, taking a bite out of her tart, "mmm! This is really good."

Geldis chuckled, "I'm glad you like it," he said, setting a bottle on the counter in front of her, "here. Try a bottle of my handcrafted brew. I call it, 'Sadri's Sujamma'. Let me know what you think."

Cassidy furrowed her brow at the bottle and swallowed, "I don't drink."

Geldis gave her wide eyes, "what? Who doesn't drink in this day and age? Even the children are drinking," he said, taking the bottle back and setting a cup of tea in front of her, "strange, but suit yourself."

Cassidy happily ate her tart, absentmindedly swinging her legs front to back on the stool as she sipped the tea while Hank happily ate his raw meat, keeping Geldis company at the bar, "so, the Retching Netch..."

Geldis smirked, "you're wanting to know how the name came about, right?"

Cassidy nodded, sucking the berry juice from her finger as he leaned against the bar.

"Well, there's actually a funny story behind the name. A few years ago, I was walking down by the docks and I noticed a Dunmer staggering along with a bottle of sujamma in hand. He was one of my patrons and liked to drink heavily, so I wasn't exactly surprised," he said, confusing her a little.

"If it wasn't unusual, why did you stop?" she asked, tilting her head.

Geldis chuckled, "you see this particular Dunmer was as naked as the day he was born and singing badly at the top of his lungs."

Cassidy burst out laughing, "nuh uh!"

"Gods honest truth," Geldis said, raising his right hand, "he was quite a sight. As I'm watching this spectacle, a netch floats over the Bulwark towards him. The man looks straight up at the netch... yells 'have a drink' and tosses the bottle... and it never hit the ground."

"What happened?" she prompted, taking a sip of her tea.

"Well, the bottle broke on the netch, and it must have swallowed its contents because it started floating sort of tilted. Finally, it stopped and began to quiver. A few moments later," Geldis made a disgusted face, "the foulest liquid to ever assail your nostrils spewed from its maw. I've seen plenty of drunks in my day, and I'll tell you right now that netch was sick."

"Eww," she said, wrinkling her nose, "so you decided to name this place after seeing that. That's weird."

Geldis chuckled, "maybe, but the story that goes along with it is worth the horrible name, yeah?"

Cassidy smiled, "yeah," she said, glancing toward the stairs as people started to file into the tavern, "do you have any clothing I could borrow for my work tonight? I don't really want to scare off the patrons."

"Absolutely!" he said, walking around the bar, "I'll show you to your room. There should be some clothing in the dresser in there."

She and Hank followed him to a fairly good sized room and gave him a nod as he left them to scour the dressers for something less aggressive to wear. She found a nice, slightly sexy dress and smirked,  _this'll get sales,_ she thought, laying the dress out on the bed and disrobing before putting it on. She took a deep breath and smiled, slipping her butterfly knife onto the strap she kept on her thigh before adjusting the skirt so it wouldn't be too noticeable. She stood at the door for a few seconds, giving Hank an apologetic smile as she shook her head, "no, Hank. You have to stay here so you don't scare off all of Geldis's business. If I need you, I'll scream, okay? Just make yourself a web in one of the corners and get some rest," she said, patting his head as he gave her a disappointed squeak and scuttled to the corner on the other side of the room. She took a deep breath, standing at the door for a moment before opening it, "here goes nothing."

* * *

The tavern really picked up with people that were wanting food and drink as soon as they sat down. She moved through the tables, expertly avoiding chairs, feet, and reaching hands as she made her way back to the bar. She let out a huff of air, not realizing when she agreed to help Geldis out that it would be so much work. 

"Getting tired?" Geldis asked, giving her a smirk as she smiled at him.

"Just a little winded. I wasn't expecting this to be so difficult," she admitted, gathering the drinks for a table of two in the dark corner. 

"When you get back with the money, Mogrul placed an order to be delivered to him in his usual spot at the top of the stairs. Don't spill anything and he'll tip you well," Geldis said, refilling a tankard of another purplish, ashen-skinned man. 

Cassidy nodded, taking the drinks to the table and passing them out, "here you are. One ale, one mead, and one jug of water with cups," she said, collecting the money and turning to head back to the bar. She gave a yelp as someone reached out, groping her ass as she moved past a table. She turned, giving the man a scowl, "that's not how you get someone's attention."

The man chuckled, "it got your's, didn't it? What do you say you put that platter down for a little while and we find a nice, quiet spot to get acquainted?" he asked, sliding his hand across her exposed thigh and under her skirt. 

She ground her teeth, taking hold of his wrist and pushing on the pressure point, making him cry out, "the next time you touch me, I'll shove your hand so far down your throat you'll be able to tickle your own testies," she growled, throwing his hand away before putting on a smile, "anything else, hon?"

The man's brows furrowed as he rubbed his wrist and rotated it to be sure nothing was broken, "no... no. I'm fine. Thank you."

Cassidy gave a nod and sauntered to the bar where Geldis gave her an amused smirk. She blinked at him in confusion, "what?"

"You know, you could make a lot more coin with that body of yours," he said, wiping down the counter.

Cassidy snorted, taking the tray on the end of the bar, "I'm a waitress. Not a whore. If they want that, they're going to have to be a lot smoother than just grabbing the goodies."

Geldis laughed, shaking his head as he looked at her, "I've seen many visitors come and go, but you... there's something about you that I like."

Cassidy gave him a grin, "must be my award winning personality," she said, getting another chuckle.

"You'd better hurry before Mogrul gets impatient. He's the Orc on the next level up," Geldis said, waving her toward the stairs.

"Great... What's an Orc?" she asked, getting a raised eyebrow from the man.

"He has a top-knot and an underbite," Geldis explained, thinking she was joking about not knowing what an Orc was. 

She moved up the stairs, avoiding the people coming down them as she carried the drinks and food on the platter. She turned at the top of the stairs, remembering the man with the horrible underbite from earlier when she had first entered the Inn. She put on her best smile as she walked toward him and the man toating the large weapon on his back. 

The man stood straight from where he had been leaning, watching her with narrowed eyes as she approached.

"Ah, finally! I've been waiting all night for my meal," underbite growled as she set the tray down on the table to place the food in front of him. The man gave a hum before catching her hand as she pulled it away from the ale, "you're new here, aren't you? How would you like to be my girl?"

Cassidy wrinkled her nose at him and locked her eyes on his as she smiled, "not if you were the last man on earth." She started to turn to head back to the bar down the stairs when he reached out, grabbing her wrist. Her reaction was instant, her instincts taking over as she jerked her arm away from him, bringing him forward while she brought her knee up to connect with his nose, making him cry out as he released her. She huffed, brushing the skirt of her waitressing outfit off before looking at him with a pleasant smile, "no means no," she sang, tucking the tray under her arm before heading for the stairs. 

"That little bitch. I want her in my room tonight, Slitter. Nobody says no to me. Nobody," the disgusting man growled.

"Aye, sir," the man's bodyguard said, sounding tired.

* * *

Cassidy set the tray down on the counter, wiping the sweat from her brow as she took a moment to catch her breath, the patrons of the inn satiated for the moment. 

"Need a break, sweetheart?" Geldis asked, giving her a smile as she slid onto one of the stools in front of the bar.

She gave him a smile as he slid a cup of tea in front of her, "for a moment, then I'll check the tables and see if anyone needs anything," she said, taking a sip of her tea before a pouch of coins was set at her elbow. She blinked down at the pouch before looking up at the bodyguard as he stood behind her with his arms folded over his chest.

"Mogrul said that this should be incentive enough for a night with him," Slitter said, sounding as annoyed as he looked.

Cassidy looked back down at the pouch before picking it up and holding it out to him, "I already said no. Hit him with this, in the head, yes?" she said, giving him a smile, "or in the groin. I hear that's a painful place for you males."

Slitter stared at her for a few moments before sighing and shaking his head as he took the pouch back, "he won't be happy about this."

Cassidy shrugged, "don't care. No means no."

Slitter heaved a heavy sigh before heading for the stairs, rubbing the back of his neck as he did.

"You've got some nerve sending the money back with Slitter. Nobody says no to Mogrul," Geldis said, setting a few items on the tray as Cassidy frowned.

"That's what he thinks too, but I've already told him no twice," she said, getting to her feet and taking the tray, "don't worry, Geldie. If he causes any problems, I'll send Hank to wrap him in a cocoon."

Geldis chuckled, shaking his head as he watched her take the tray to the table and serve the Ravenrock guards that were sitting at the table. She smiled and laughed, flirting with the guards as they eyed her over the rims of their tankards and goblets. One reached out, running his hand up her thigh and getting his hand smacked for his trouble while she spoke with one of the others at the table as if it were an instant reaction. When he reached for her ass again, she grabbed his thumb, pushing it back toward his body and making him cry out as she smiled almost innocently at him. "No means no," she said, releasing his thumb before excusing herself from the table as the other guards poked fun at their friend. She moved back to the counter with the payment as Slitter met her with a larger bag of gold. She frowned at the pouch as he held it out to her.

"He says this should change your mind," Slitter said watching her for a few moments before sighing, "your answer is still no, isn't it?"

Cassidy nodded, "I'm not a whore and refuse to be treated as one," her frown turned to a smile as she tilted her head slightly, "make him eat half of that for me, will you ash prince? I want him to be a living piggybank."

Slitter stared at her for a few moments before sighing, "you're making my job so much more difficult than it has to be," he grumbled, walking away from her as she took another tray of items to a table in the dark corner. 

She kept her eyes down and her ears open, pretending to not be listening to the conversation the two were having.

"There's a shipment coming in later tonight on the Drowning Seaman. The captain'll meet us behind the smithy. We'll go from there to the ship to retrieve the goods."

Cassidy kept the smirk from her lips, standing straight and giving the people a smile, "do you need anything else?"

"No, thank you," the silent one said before she gave them a slight bow and went back to the counter, a smile tracing her lips.  _Shipment on the Drowning Seaman, huh? I'm going to have to check that out later,_ she thought, giving Slitter a frown as he came toward her with two bags of gold. She sighed and folded her arms over her chest with an annoyed frown, "no means no, Ash Prince."

Slitter huffed, "for the love of Azura, woman, just take the gold and spend an hour with him," he growled, pushing the gold at her.

Cassidy stared at him for a few moments before snorting, "no. He's gross and vile and smells like old cheese in a sweat sock during a heat wave," she said, shaking her head, "I'd rather drown again than spent a few minutes with Underbite."

Slitter stared at her before sighing and shaking his head. He stepped toward her and lowered his voice, "look, girly. If I go back to my boss with this money, he's going to give me another scar and I'm going to have to let him do it. Now, will you take the offer, or not?"

Cassidy glanced at the scar on his cheek, taking a deep breath before giving him an apologetic smile, "I'm not a whore, Ash Prince. I don't care how much money he makes you throw at me, my answer will always be no."

Slitter sighed, looking defeated as he scratched the scar on his cheek, "what would make you say yes?"

Cassidy rolled her eyes and shook her head before giving him a charming smile. She stepped into him, fiddling with the red scarf around his neck as she swayed slightly, "well... now that you mention it. I am... a little... lonely," she said, giving him a slow, seductive blink as she smiled up at him.

He stared at her for a few seconds before clearing his throat, "you uh... you want to spend... the night with... me? Why?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he folded his arms over his chest.

Cassidy giggled, "you're funny," she said, booping his nose before sliding the tray of items from the counter, "maybe I'll see you later, huh?" she gave him a wink before walking past him to the table that ordered the items. 

Slitter watched her for a few seconds before glancing at Geldis, "how much do you know about that woman?"

Geldis shrugged, "she's a great server and has a pet spider. That's all I really know about her," he said, cleaning a goblet, "I'll tell you this, though. If I had the chance, I'd take her up on the offer. A night in her bed might be the best night of your life. She's a real spitfire."

Slitter looked back at Cassidy as she moved from table to table, seeming to dance between the hands that reached out for her as she smiled and offered to get the patrons other things.  _She does seem... interesting. But if Mogrul found out I poached a girl he had his eye on, Azura only knows what he would do to me_.

* * *

Cassidy helped Geldis clean up the tavern, wiping down the tables with a damp cloth and taking the empty plates and tankards back to the counter. Geldis gave her a smile as she set the tray on the countertop. 

"Thanks for helping out tonight, Cassidy. I appreciate it. Haven't had this much business in a while," Geldis said, as she started to clean the tankards.

She gave him a smile, turning the tankards upside down on the counter, "no problem. I had fun." She paused for a moment, glancing at the last two patrons to leave. The two people that were talking about a shady deal that was going down that night. 

"You can head to your room if you like. I can clean up the rest of this myself."

Cassidy looked at him with furrowed brows, "are you sure? I don't mind."

Geldis nodded, "I'm sure, sweetheart. You just head to your room and get some sleep. You'll need it if you're leaving tomorrow."

Cassidy nodded, "okay, Geldie. I'll see you in the morning then," she said, heading to her room. She closed the door behind her, glancing at Hank as he snoozed in the web he had made himself in the far corner of his room. She gave the sleeping creature a smile as she stripped the waitressing outfit off and redressed in her black on black thief outfit. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled, "those goods are mine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Spider is actually called Pack Spider, but I thought that would get impersonal so I had Cassidy name it Hank. The idea for the semi-boring names goes to my friend Emily. Look for more of those if I don't like the names.

**Author's Note:**

> For those that aren't sure and want to know. The language in Cassidy's flashbacks is German.


End file.
